Comment on this post. I will choose seven interests from your profile and you will explain what they mean and why you are interested in them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so others can play along.
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sidlj gave me:
1. Criminal Minds
The first episode I saw was the first episode of the second season, so it says something about how much I must have liked the show that I stuck with it despite not only knowing nothing about these people, but also not having seen the first half of that two part episode, and hence knowing nothing about the plot either. Unlike most shows, where there's a couple of characters I really love and the rest I like to varying degrees, I love everyone on this show. Particularly Emily, despite not being all that keen on her to begin with, I think she's awesome (though I was very sad when JJ hooked up with Will, because I was convinced she and Emily should have been together. But now we have - or had - Jordan).
2. Feminism
And I'm sure it's a massive shock to hear I'm a feminist. I've always used that label for myself, for as long as I can remember. I don't understand women who say they aren't. Aside from the ranting, and the date rape research, and the new job in domestic violence and abuse, my most frequent feminist moment is refusing to sit down when a man stands up for me on the bus, so that we both stand the whole way. My mum says I'm being impolite; I say he's being impolite, when I said no thank you politely. We have yet to reach an agreement on this.
3. Theatre
Before I moved to go back to uni, I used to help at a local theatre. Every night for two weeks out of every four, and I loved it. It's the only thing I miss about where I used to live. I did backstage work - stage management, cue board, props, general stage hand - and it was the most fun I've ever had. I was one of a small number of women, and the men there were lovely - very protective, very sweet, very friendly, very willing to offer advice or help. I got hurt there once, a wooden box fell on me, split my lip and turned my hand purple with bruises, and when I went back, it was like walking into one big hug.
I applied to stage school, before I started my masters, to train as a stage manager and didn't get in, and I still want to do that so badly. I', just afraid of being told no again.
4. Ice skating
When we were kids, my mum, my sister and I used to watch the ice dancing competitions, especially Torvil and Dean (who I've seen live, which was very cool). My sister's not such a fan any more, but my mum and I still are. I took skating lessons a couple of years ago, until I fell and hurt my knee, and now can't skate (well, unless something comes of the test results I'm supposed to get this Friday).
5. Gay rights
I kind of hate the phrase, but I believe in the sentiment. I don't believe that having civil partnerships in the UK means we have equal rights for gay people, but I think the biggest problem is the stuff that can't be liegislated for, all the minor abuse you get in the street, and the jokes, and the way it's okay to say derogatory things about gay people. And the people like my dad, who thinks - and will say to my face - that letting gay people serve openly in the US military would be the downfall of their military, and that they should be kept out since people in the military can't handle serving with gay people. Which is offensive to just about everyone involved, not to mention untrue, since, hi, we have openly gay people in the UK military and it seems to be doing fine.
6. CSI:Miami
I was a huge fan of Miami for the first couple of seasons, and then they killed Speed and I stopped watching, since he was really who I watched for. He seemed like he had something interesting going on that we never actually got to see, some big secret. And I liked his friendship with Megan.
Horatio, on the other hand, freaked my the fuck out. He was the kind of guy I'd avoid sitting by on the bus, because he just gave me a bad vibe, even through the TV screen. Also, interesting fact, did you know that the guy who plays him had it written into his contract that he'd never be shown walking into or out of a shot? Watch the show - he's always just there as the camera pans round, and once you notice, you won't be able to stop.
7. Paganism
I'm not strictly speaking a pagan, though it's the closest label I have for my spirituality, but I like the sound of it, the idea of balance and nature. I celebrate Samhain, because there's something about it that feels right to me, but that's about it for 'formal' paganism and me. But I believe in things like fate (well, in an end you're supposed to get to, and a path you can choose for yourself) and in things like divination. And I believe in things that we can't explain yet, like psychic powers and seeing the future; I just can't accept that we're really at the point where we know everything there is to be known, so that we can say these things are impossible. It's like going into space - I just can't believe that we're done with human space travel for exploration of other bodies in space, or that we're done with the moon. There's got to be more out there.
sidlj gave me:1. Criminal Minds
The first episode I saw was the first episode of the second season, so it says something about how much I must have liked the show that I stuck with it despite not only knowing nothing about these people, but also not having seen the first half of that two part episode, and hence knowing nothing about the plot either. Unlike most shows, where there's a couple of characters I really love and the rest I like to varying degrees, I love everyone on this show. Particularly Emily, despite not being all that keen on her to begin with, I think she's awesome (though I was very sad when JJ hooked up with Will, because I was convinced she and Emily should have been together. But now we have - or had - Jordan).
2. Feminism
And I'm sure it's a massive shock to hear I'm a feminist. I've always used that label for myself, for as long as I can remember. I don't understand women who say they aren't. Aside from the ranting, and the date rape research, and the new job in domestic violence and abuse, my most frequent feminist moment is refusing to sit down when a man stands up for me on the bus, so that we both stand the whole way. My mum says I'm being impolite; I say he's being impolite, when I said no thank you politely. We have yet to reach an agreement on this.
3. Theatre
Before I moved to go back to uni, I used to help at a local theatre. Every night for two weeks out of every four, and I loved it. It's the only thing I miss about where I used to live. I did backstage work - stage management, cue board, props, general stage hand - and it was the most fun I've ever had. I was one of a small number of women, and the men there were lovely - very protective, very sweet, very friendly, very willing to offer advice or help. I got hurt there once, a wooden box fell on me, split my lip and turned my hand purple with bruises, and when I went back, it was like walking into one big hug.
I applied to stage school, before I started my masters, to train as a stage manager and didn't get in, and I still want to do that so badly. I', just afraid of being told no again.
4. Ice skating
When we were kids, my mum, my sister and I used to watch the ice dancing competitions, especially Torvil and Dean (who I've seen live, which was very cool). My sister's not such a fan any more, but my mum and I still are. I took skating lessons a couple of years ago, until I fell and hurt my knee, and now can't skate (well, unless something comes of the test results I'm supposed to get this Friday).
5. Gay rights
I kind of hate the phrase, but I believe in the sentiment. I don't believe that having civil partnerships in the UK means we have equal rights for gay people, but I think the biggest problem is the stuff that can't be liegislated for, all the minor abuse you get in the street, and the jokes, and the way it's okay to say derogatory things about gay people. And the people like my dad, who thinks - and will say to my face - that letting gay people serve openly in the US military would be the downfall of their military, and that they should be kept out since people in the military can't handle serving with gay people. Which is offensive to just about everyone involved, not to mention untrue, since, hi, we have openly gay people in the UK military and it seems to be doing fine.
6. CSI:Miami
I was a huge fan of Miami for the first couple of seasons, and then they killed Speed and I stopped watching, since he was really who I watched for. He seemed like he had something interesting going on that we never actually got to see, some big secret. And I liked his friendship with Megan.
Horatio, on the other hand, freaked my the fuck out. He was the kind of guy I'd avoid sitting by on the bus, because he just gave me a bad vibe, even through the TV screen. Also, interesting fact, did you know that the guy who plays him had it written into his contract that he'd never be shown walking into or out of a shot? Watch the show - he's always just there as the camera pans round, and once you notice, you won't be able to stop.
7. Paganism
I'm not strictly speaking a pagan, though it's the closest label I have for my spirituality, but I like the sound of it, the idea of balance and nature. I celebrate Samhain, because there's something about it that feels right to me, but that's about it for 'formal' paganism and me. But I believe in things like fate (well, in an end you're supposed to get to, and a path you can choose for yourself) and in things like divination. And I believe in things that we can't explain yet, like psychic powers and seeing the future; I just can't accept that we're really at the point where we know everything there is to be known, so that we can say these things are impossible. It's like going into space - I just can't believe that we're done with human space travel for exploration of other bodies in space, or that we're done with the moon. There's got to be more out there.